8. Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit):

Dividends

On January 23, 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the payment of a $0.15 per share quarterly cash dividend to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 6, 2019, which was paid on March 1, 2019.

On April 24, 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the payment of a $0.25 per share quarterly cash dividend to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 8, 2019, which was paid on June 1, 2019.

On July 24, 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the payment of a $0.25 per share quarterly cash dividend to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 7, 2019, which was paid on September 3, 2019.

Repurchase of Common Stock

In February 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 150,000 shares of our common stock for a price of $159.63 per share through a tender offer (the “Tender Offer”). The Tender Offer began on the date of the announcement, February 28, 2019 and expired on March 28, 2019. Upon expiration, the Company accepted for payment 150,000 shares for a total purchase price of approximately $24.0 million, including fees and expenses related to the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer was financed in part by net borrowings under the Line of Credit. (See Note 9 – “Debt”).

Under a previous Board of Directors’ authorization, as of September 28, 2019, the Company has the ability to repurchase an additional 130,604 shares of its common stock. Repurchases may be made from time to time at prevailing prices, subject to certain restrictions on volume, pricing and timing.

Stock Option Plans and Stock-Based Compensation

The Company had authorized up to 750,000 shares of common stock be reserved for granting either nonqualified or incentive stock options to officers and key employees under the Company’s 2001 Stock Option Plan (the “2001 Plan”). The 2001 Plan expired on February 20, 2011. As of September 29, 2019, the Company has authorized up to 700,000 shares of common stock to be reserved for granting either nonqualified or incentive stock options to officers and key employees under the Company’s 2010 Stock Option Plan (the “2010 Plan”).

The Company also sponsors a Stock Option Plan for Nonemployee Directors (the “Nonemployee Directors Plan”) and has reserved a total of 350,000 shares for issuance to directors of the Company who are not employees.

Stock option activity under the 2001 Plan, 2010 Plan and Nonemployee Directors Plan (collectively, the “Option Plans”) as of September 28, 2019 was as follows:


				Weighted Average
				Remaining
	Number of	Weighted Average		Contractual Life
	Shares	Exercise Price		(years)		Intrinsic Value
Outstanding, December 29, 2018	639,380	$	84.12	5.61	$	47,808,100
Granted	29,250		164.84
Exercised	(65,292)		45.87
Outstanding, September 28, 2019	603,338	$	92.17	5.37	$	50,698,600
Exercisable, September 28, 2019	440,813	$	74.76	4.28	$	44,717,900

The fair value of options granted under the Option Plans during the first nine months of 2019 and 2018 were estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following weighted average assumptions and results:


	Nine Months Ended
	September 28, 2019			September 29, 2018
Risk free interest rate		1.98	%		2.73	%
Expected life (years)		6			6
Expected volatility		20.30	%		20.40	%
Dividend yield		1.26	%		1.17	%
Option fair value	$	32.65		$	31.44

All unexercised options at September 28, 2019 have an exercise price equal to the fair market value on the date of the grant.

Compensation expense of $1,511,400 and $1,507,800 relating to the vested portion of the fair value of stock options granted was expensed to “Selling, General and Administrative Expenses” in the first nine months of 2019 and 2018, respectively. As of September 28, 2019, the Company had $3.8 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to stock options that is expected to be recognized over the remaining weighted average vesting period of approximately 2.4 years.